Lords of the Sky: Fighter Pilots and Air Combat, From the Red Baron to the F-16 (81 page)

White Eagle, Red Star
(MacDonald & Company, 1972), by Norman Davies, is irreplaceable for the serious historian of this conflict. Of particular note is chapter 2, “A Winter of Disillusionment,” pp. 62–104.

Marion Aten and Arthur Orrmont’s memoir,
Last Train Over Rostov Bridge
(Messner, 1961), is a jewel. Aten was a mercenary fighting for the White Russians and gives an invaluable, firsthand account of life, war, and flying.

“I was high-spirited, loved excitement, took chances and got caught too many times.” Such was the self-assessment of a young American named Merian Cooper upon his resignation from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1915.
Flight of Eagles
(Brevet International, 1974), by Robert F. Karolevitz and Ross Fenn, reveals much of the Polish side of the conflict as well as the Kosciusko Squadron of American volunteers.

Feeling “no moral aloofness” about the war in Spain, another former American naval officer turned mercenary’s story is related by Richard K. Smith and R. Cargill Hall in
Five Down, No Glory: Frank G. Tinker, Mercenary Ace in the Spanish Civil War
(Naval Institute Press, 2011). This book is also a highly readable source on the causes and results of the Spanish Civil War.

See Graham D. Macklin, “Major Hugh Pollard, MI6, and the Spanish Civil War.”
Historical Journal
(2006): pp. 277–80.

See also Robert Forsyth’s
Aces of the Legion Condor
(Oxford: Osprey, 2011). The situation and Germany’s involvement are well summarized on pp. 6–14, the Legion Condor organization between pp. 40–50, and Messerschmitt’s progress with tactical lessons learned on pp. 51–84.

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Jericho-Trompete dive siren was initially an effective addition to the Stuka, especially in dealing with soldiers unused to technology. John Keegan’s
The Second World War
(Penguin, 1989), pp. 11–50, gives a very compact, informative look at the starting conditions.

The Battle of Britain
(St. Martin’s Press, 2010) by James Holland provides a magnificent, multifaceted look at the politics, people, and aircraft in the initial stages of the war. See pp. 32–38 for some intriguing German details. Information on the the Battle for France can be found on pp. 52-69.

Voluminous writings exist covering aircraft development of the period. I would suggest Len Cacutt’s
Great Aircraft of the World: Hawker Hurricane
(Marshall Cavendish, 1989), Walter Boyne and Philip Handleman’s
Brassey’s Air Combat Reader
(Batsford Brassey, Inc., 1999), and Douglas Bader’s
Fight for the Sky: The Story of the Spitfire and Hurricane
(Cassell Military Books, 2004) as good places to start. Production and design notes for the Hurricane largely came from John W. Fozard’s
Sydney Camm and the Hurricane: Perspectives on the Master Fighter Designer and his Finest Achievement
(Airlife, 1991).

Details about the French collapse and inner workings of their system can be found in Holland’s
Battle of Britain,
pp. 67–68, 112–19, and p. 154.

German ace Hans-Ekkard Bob is a true lord of the sky. His book
Betrayed Ideals: Memoirs of a Luftwaffe Fighter Ace
(Cerberus Publishing Ltd., 2003) is a fascinating look into the war and a German fighter cockpit.

Once again I owe a debt to James Holland’s
Battle of Britain
for the outline of Dunkirk, pp. 240–43 and 188–92).

CHAPTER EIGHT

As in the Great War, a detailed look into pilot background and training explains much about the conduct of air battles. My initial notes for the Luftwaffe came from
Hitler’s Eagles: The Luftwaffe 1933–45
(Osprey Publishing, 2012) by Chris McNab. There is excellent information on the structure, selection processes, unit designations, and even uniforms on pp. 56–118.

Michael Korda’s exceptional work,
With Wings Like Eagles
(New York: HarperCollins, 2009), similarly explains much of the origins, both political and technical, of the Royal Air Force and the Luftwaffe. I found the comparisons between the two organizations, pp. 60–66, particularly revealing.

Len Deighton’s
Fighter
(Random House UK, 2000), pp. 61–85, has a very clear summary of the Hurricane, Spitfire, and Bf 109 in terms of development, engineering, and weapons. It’s always interesting that so many valid solutions to the same problem (frontline fighter effectiveness) could be discovered by different designers.

For detailed looks at the German system see also
Jagdgeschwader 53 A History of the “Pik As” Geschwader March 1937–May 1942
(Schiffer Military History, 1997) by Jochen Prien and Ulrich Steinhilper’s
Spitfire on my Tail
(Independent Books, 1990).

Cockpit views of dogfighting and ground attacks are possible since I’ve been there—but for help with the World War II vintage aircraft, J. E. “Johnny” Johnson’s
Full Circle: The Story of Air Fighting
(Cassell Military Paperbacks, 1964) was invaluable. Also, Norman Frank’s
Sky Tiger:
The Story of Sailor Malan
(William Kimber & Company, 1980), pp. 28–43, was very useful in cross-checking switches, radio communications, and procedures.

The importance of radar cannot be overstated for either side during the Battle of Britain, as a disaster for the Luftwaffe and as salvation for the Royal Air Force. Korda’s
With Wings Like Eagles,
pp. 31–42, and Holland’s
Battle of Britain,
pp. 327–31, both contain descriptions of development and the Chain Home network, which was so effective. What I found very useful in Deighton’s
Fighter,
pp. 84–101, were the comparisons between the German and British systems and details concerning how the British integrated Chain Home into their air defense system.

Max Aiken, Lord Beaverbrook, was, with Hugh Dowding, largely responsible for saving England in the spring of 1940. Both men’s commitment to salvage, production, and putting wartime needs ahead of ego and politics kept aircraft available for the fight. Much of this is detailed in
History of the Second World War: British War Production
(HMSO, 1952) by M. M. Postan, and again in Holland’s
Battle of Britain,
pp. 167–70 and 322–24.

Engine development on both sides is worth reading about in Matthew Freudenberg’s
Negative Gravity: The Life of Beatrice Shilling
(Charlton Publications, 2003), Neil Gregor’s
Daimler-Benz in the Third Reich
(Yale University Press, 1998), and Alec Lumsden’s
British Piston Engines and Their Aircraft
(Airlife Publishing, 2003). Like most fighter pilots, I gave scant thought to how my aircraft systems came to be; I only wanted them to work as advertised. Learning a bit about everything that goes into putting a pilot in the right place at the right time was humbling.

CHAPTER NINE

Winston Groom’s
1942: The Year That Tried Men’s Souls
(Grove Press, 2005), pp. 1–16, is a very good introduction to the second year of the war, as is Keegan’s
The Second World War,
pp. 127–220.

Hans Joachim Marseille, known as “Jochen” to his friends, is one of the most intriguing pilots of the war.
Star of Africa,
by Colin D. Heaton and Anne-Marie Lewis (Zenith, 2012), is the seminal work on his life and times. This is also a well-witten account of the North Africa campaign from the German point of view. See also Groom’s
1942,
pp. 377–91.

Luftwaffe Eagle
(Helios, 2007), pp. 16–18, discusses ongoing changes in the Luftwaffe.

Messerschmitt’s continued improvement to the 109 fighter are accessible through several sources, though I found Carl Molesworth’s
P-40 Warhawk vs Bf-109
(Osprey Publishing, 2011) and Tony Holmes’s
Spitfire vs Bf-109: Battle of Britain
(Osprey Publishing, 2007) to be among the best.

For a good look at the Soviet Union, see
The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression
(Harvard University Press, 1999) by Stephanie Courtois. See also Keegan’s
The Second World War,
pp. 450–516.

See
Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II
(University Press of Kansas, 2012) by Von Hardesty and Ilya Grinberg, pp. 5–20. This book provides extraordinary detail into a sparsely known area. Soviet records are notorious for being poorly kept and difficult to access, yet the authors managed admirably.

“I am completely absorbed by combat life. I can’t seem to think of anything but the fighting.” Hardly the sentiments associated with a normal young girl, but Lidiya Litvyak was anything but that. Bill Yenne’s
The White Rose of Stalingrad
(Osprey Publishing, 2013) is a superb look at Soviet pilots and aircraft during the ugly days following the German invasion.

First-day losses are quoted from Hardesty and Grinberg,
Red Phoenix Rising,
pp. 9–12.

Figures and the situation in December 1941 are from Keegan’s
The Second World War,
pp. 196–208. Also of considerable interest is the chapter on war production, which begins on p. 209.

Soviet technical information is found throughout the following books, but of particular note is
Red Phoenix Rising,
pp. 108–113 and 229–231, and pp. 173–75 from
The White Rose of Stalingrad.

Dr. Janina Kazimiera Cottam’s
The Golden Tressed Soldier
(Military Affairs/Aerospace Historian Publishing, 1983) is another excellent source of information regarding Lilya Litvyak.

“Let’s get the fighting over first, darling—then maybe we can talk about love, eh?” A great quote from Lilya that she used innumerable times to counter bad pickup attempts from her male contemporaries. See
The White Rose of Stalingrad,
p. 179.

An excellent firsthand source for German training, squadron life, and the war after the invasion of Russia is
Luftwaffe Fighter Ace
(Grub Street, 2004) by Norbert Hannig. The book doesn’t begin its examination of the military until 1941, and makes a very good comparison to the earlier programs and war prior to Hitler’s great mistake. Of special note is the “Conduct in War of the German Soldier,” p. 186.

Edward H. Sims,
The Fighter Pilots
(Cassell, 1967), pp. 123–30.

CHAPTER TEN

The opening attack on Pearl Harbor was largely extrapolated from the transcript of an oral interview of Ken Taylor on December 4, 1986 (Chris Conybeare and Daniel Martinez).

Background for the events leading up to Pearl Harbor were largely taken from Keegan’s
The Second World War,
pp. 251–90, and John Costello’s
The Pacific War: 1941–1945
(HarperCollins, 1981).

P-40 Warhawk specifications were generally taken from Molesworth’s
P-40 Warhawk,
pp. 10–16 and 23–27.

Information for pilot selection and training was taken largely from Richard Sassaman’s “Pilots With Stripes,”
America in WWII,
August 2011, Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate’s
The Army Air Forces in World War II, Volume Six: Men and Planes
(Office of Air Force History, 1983), and “The Aviation Cadets,”
Air Force Magazine,
November 1990, by Bruce D. Callendar. An invaluable source for Navy and Marine flyers was Roy Grossnick and William J. Armstrong’s
United States Naval Aviation, 1919–1995
(Naval Historical Center, 1997).

Christina Olds and Ed Rasimus’s
Fighter Pilot: The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds
(St. Martin’s Griffin, 2010) was instrumental in detailing USAAF training for West Point officers. See specifically pp. 7–11 and 18–23.

As always, the other point of view is vital in providing a complete picture, and Dan King’s
The Last Zero Fighter
(Pacific Press, 2012) is replete with facts on Japanese pilot selection, training, and wartime perceptions. Kaname Harada’s firsthand account, pp. 15–68, was particularly revealing, as he fought through the entire war—and survived.

See
The History of Marine Corps Aviation in World War II
(Combat Forces Press, 1952) by Robert Sherrod, pp. 39–40, for the Wake Island details.

See James H. Doolittle and Carroll V. Glines’s
I Could Never Be So Lucky Again
(Bantam Books, 2001) for descriptions and details of the Doolittle Raid.

Battle of Midway references were drawn primarily from Mark Stille’s
USN Carriers vs IJN Carriers: The Pacific 1942
(Osprey, 2007), Ian Toll’s
Pacific Crucible, War in the Pacific
(W. W. Norton & Co., 2012), Douglas V. Smith’s
Carrier Battles: Command Decision in Harm’s Way
(U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2006), Robert Cressman’s
That Gallant Ship: U.S.S. Yorktown (CV-5)
(Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, 1985), and Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully’s
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
(Potomac Books, 2005).

CHAPTER ELEVEN

See Olds and Rasimus’s
Fighter Pilot,
pp. 96–100, for much of the switches and cockpit layout. The combat mission description is expanded from the one mentioned on pp. 101–115.

The pinnacle of piston-engined fighter development, the Mustang changed the course of the air war. Robert Peczkowski’s
North American P-51D Mustang
(Stratus, 2009) provided text from the pilot’s manual and cockpit photographs of every lever, button, and switch.

See also Martin Bowman’s
P-51 vs Fw 190: Europe 1943–45
(Osprey, 2007), pp. 8–14, for development and pp. 39–52 for combatants and tactics.

The early North American program, especially as it related to the RAF, is discussed in Martyn Chorlton’s
Allison-Engined P-51 Mustang
(Oxford: Osprey, 2012), specifically pp. 4–36.

Squadrons and call signs are courtesy of Maurer’s
Air Force Combat Units of World War Two
(1983) and
Combat Squadrons of the Air Force: World War Two
(1982), both published by the Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Headquarters United States Air Force.